Facets
by Phantasmagorical Carnival
Summary: Unrelated oneshots, mostly SoMa. Mostly fluff, but not too much if I can help it.
1. Nomads

**A/N: **This is something that could realistically happen. I think it's called the saturation point.

**Disclamer: **I do not own Soul Eater, no, really, I don't.

Her hands clutched him around the middle, and they flew down the highway, with nothing in mind.

They had nothing but themselves and the motorcycle and light luggage, and the steady flow of cash from Shinbunsen.

It wasn't as if the organization can say no to them, not since the Great Enemy was struck down. And the rumbles of other opposition were for the next generation. Not them, they had done too much.

So they went, and they traveled, they had no goals except to figure out what would happen next, living one day at a time.

They went everywhere, and stayed anywhere, from the most shining hotel to the shabbiest inn, they had no qualms.

Every night they reminded the other that they were alive, with squeaking bedsprings, preparing themselves for old friends (or enemies) who might drop by for the night.

If they did the morning would find them leaving, hot faces freshly dried of cold tears.

So they continued, living in the moment.

Maybe one day she would lead him in a search for her mother.

Maybe one day he would get reacquainted with his family, and introduce her to them at the same time.

Not yet though.

Everything they really needed was they had between themselves. So there was really no need to land, to stay anywhere longer than a month, no need to settle.

And they would continue, with their small fights and their forgiveness and their memories.

Until, until…just until.


	2. Immortal

**A/N:** Yet something else I think could happen at the end of the Manga.

**Disclamer: **I still do not own Soul Eater.

* * *

><p>I'm going to tell you a story that my grandparents told me, and the last bit is something that I saw myself.<p>

My grandparents on my mother's side, Kim Dehl and Ox Ford, were part of the generation that stopped the Kishin, killed him. They didn't participate in that battle though; they were the supporting cast for seven other people. Death the Kid and his two weapons Liz and Patty Thompson, Black Star and his weapon Nakatsuka Tsubaki, and Maka Albarn and her weapon Soul Eater Evans, apparently they didn't know that his real last name was Evans until the memorial ceremony, when everyone learned who his family was. I'm getting ahead of myself though; the point is that the name "Eater" had stuck, so he had three names.

Anyways, the story I've always been told is about the current Shinigami, who's not the original but his son, called Death the Kid, as I wrote earlier. Except he is now simply Shinigami, he holds his father's title now. He also took on his appearance too, only showing himself in the black hooded cloak and mask. My grandparents said that the Shinigami of their time had a high squeaky voice, like he was a cartoon; he still kept everyone's respect though. This Shinigami didn't have such a harmless aspect; his voice was calm and clear, speaking everything with the utmost seriousness. He wasn't his father.

The reason he wasn't like his father was in part his personality, which was shaky and nervous, his only consolation is his weapons, who are the only ones who are allowed to see him in a vulnerable state with a face. The two of them are still as young and beautiful as they had been in the prime of their life. This Shinigami had made them into DeathScythes with the intention of keeping them with him forever, another thing that made him different from his father. He had chosen to pour his strength into theirs, making them immortal alongside with him.

The story isn't about him though, it is about how he got that way, and the scene is on the battlefield, in a part of the world that is frozen desert, so cold a person practically burned. The environmental contradiction was apparently very receptive to madness, according to grandpa. His scholarly nature had not diminished with age.

A group of Shibusen students, called the Spartoi, which my grandparents and their friends were all part of confronted the Kishin there, the seven that I mentioned before, Kid, Maka and Black Star along with their weapons dove straight into the confrontation. My grandfather and his friends made jokes about how they had hero complexes and were attention hogs, but the truth was that they were the only people who could destroy the Kishin and his army of Clowns.

Black Star was enormously powerful in his own right, and able to call up the very shadows to be his army. Along with his Infinite Blade he did the battle against the Clowns alone. He used his Shadows to strangle the phantoms of Madness and his shadows were also aided by a particular energy that was poison to insanity.

The poison I am speaking of was Maka Albarn's anti-demon soul wavelength, which was the cornerstone of Spartoi's attack plan for the Kishin. My great-uncle Killik witnessed the seven of them fighting in chain resonance when their respective abilities were still being formed. According to him, seeing the three of them fight together was almost like seeing a legend made.

In short, the effort that the Kishin put into keeping that half of Spartoi away failed, so he was left vulnerable for them to all attack him directly.

He did not go down easy, he made the mistake of blocking everyone else from coming, or even seeing the battle that he waged against them. Ashura was left to find out that he was blocking any means of escape that he could hope for when he locked himself in with them.

The story that I am telling now was garnered from the official report that Kid (now Shinigami) gave and the scraps that my grandparents and their friends had learned when he felt talkative.

They never witnessed directly what happened behind the wall. But according to Kid, both Maka Albarn and Black Star and their weapons died.

This is what he said happened: After the wall came up it was just the seven of them and the Kishin, Black Star was the first to attack, his shadow swords orbiting around him and cutting down whatever happened to be in his way, including Ashura, the trouble was, Ashura couldn't die simply by being cut down, even with anti-demon wavelength-impregnated blades.

Black Star could fight like a bull, he only noticed the adversary in front of him, he wasn't aware of the attacks that were directed around and above him to Kid and Maka, the two of them held up well enough, and eventually Black Star realized that he needed to be by his friend's sides.

The moment they stood side by side, and their resonance peaked, the seven of them attacked as one, they were fighting as a single being, dipping into their own style of madness to augment their strength. It was apparently the first and last time Black Star and Kid ever saw the Black Dress.

Swords, shadows, blades, spider webs, and cannon shot with all the might of the Shinigami behind it destroyed extremities, but not so the Kishin couldn't regenerate himself.

Black Star was knocked aside at one point, and with the rhythm broken there was an empty space for the Kishin to try and crush Kid, Maka took the blow for him, only surviving due to the black blood.

It was then that a new Strategy was formed; Maka and Black Star would take turn tenderizing Ashura, leaving him raw and vulnerable to the Death Cannon.

The plan worked to perfection, Ashura was battered and weakened by the anti-demon wavelength, open and vulnerable for Kid's shot. Except that Maka and Black Star, along with their weapons came to an agreement without him. They chose to surrender all the strength they had, funneling it to Kid, causing the power to peak beyond what he could have even conceived before.

The price was that they themselves were unprotected. Whether Ashura knew and deliberately attacked them or they took the blows to protect Kid was uncertain, but the end was the same. Ashura died the same second that Kid's friends, my grandparent's friends, did.

Allegedly Black Star's last words were: "You had better build that perfect world."

And he did. He says that he only had the strength to because that he didn't believe that Soul, Maka, Black Star or Tsubaki was actually dead. The people who cleaned up afterwards, including my grandparents did admit that there were no bodies there. Kid also said that he could still sense them out there; I guess that with enough chain resonances, a group of people could start fusing together. I don't know though.

The aftermath was brutal, when families came to see the memorial markers being put up their sadness all came down on Kid's shoulders.

Of course Black Star had no family, but Maka, Tsubaki and Soul all did. It was a real surprise when his family showed up, no one knew about his family or his past. My grandparent's both agreed that it was part of the phenomenon known as the "Cosmic Trickster" that one of the most powerful DeathScythes to date had originated from a bloodline of artists.

Their fame didn't help any, and their attitudes did not endear themselves to many of the people at the memorial service, my grandparents knew from the way that they talked about the youngest member of their immediate family, the Evans' did not know Soul.

Not the way the people of Shibusen did.

Kid had to ride out the grief of the Nakatsuka family, who had first lost their son at the hands of their daughter, and then lost their daughter only a few years later.

The Finale was when Kami came midway through the service and ran into Spirit. Their argument was frightening enough to cause even the old veterans of the school to tremble.

Kid left with his weapons not long after Kami to arrive to grieve quietly on his own.

He followed Black Star's words to the letter; he built the new world on his own even though everyone could see the pain it caused him to remake the world without the support promised to him by his closest friends. Not even the help of the rest of the Spartoi was enough to ease the pain.

Years passed, decades passed, then centuries. The original Shinigami either died or retreated somewhere into the city as his son became the focus of the public eye. His successor fathered his own child; it was a bit of a surprise when that happened so soon, but I guess Kid didn't have the emotional strength that his father did. Or he was unable to let go since he didn't have the option or the chance to say goodbye to his friends properly.

He stuck around to make sure that his own child was settled into the proverbial throne. It wasn't that hard, the world that he had obsessed over to build both as his own belief and the promise to his friends had a heavy peace that showed some chance of lasting.

Everyone knew that he would be leaving eventually. He told my grandparents himself that he could sense their old friends out there, maybe transcended into something else, but their souls were intact and mobile enough so they were never seen.

The younger generations felt that this Shinigami was just crazy, and it's easy to believe that, but my grandparents were both still healthy and strong. Having a witch in the family with an instinct towards healing gave my family such longevity, even though centuries have passed, so far only three generations have gone by. They can tell their stories of the young Shinigami as clear as yesterday, maybe to them it was.

I was the last person to see Shinigami before he left, I actually saw him leave.

I was running through the streets of Death City, such are the times, there was nothing to be afraid of, the bad things only came out at night, and this was sunset.

I liked running the circumference of the city, going along the very edge, dragging my hand along the wall when I could get right next to it, and keeping an eye on it when there were buildings in the way.

I was at a point when I could keep my fingertips on the wall because there was the gate coming up, when I saw a tall young man who had two people on either side of him.

He was wearing a simple dark suit that was perfectly symmetrical, I recognized the profile from the pictures that my grandparents had. I also recognized the Thompson Sisters by him.

I was five years old then, it never crossed my mind that he would want to quietly leave without the slightest confrontation. So I approached him.

"So the rumors are true then, you are leaving us." I said.

Even though his face was young still, I could see fine lines at the corners of his eyes and mouth, I realize now that they were the marks of sadness and grief still unresolved.

"Yes, Death the Third is there now, I am no longer necessary." He sounded so tired.

"So are you going to find your friends then?" I asked, "You can still feel them?"

"I can, they are waiting for me," he replied.

"Why don't they come here?"

"They are off doing something else, something that isn't completely related to Death City, so they cannot come onto this land," he sighed "I must go to them."

The Thompson Sisters didn't say anything, they seemed happy though that he was talking to me.

I had a different question: "Did your father die?"

He looked surprised, "I suppose that is one way of putting it," he seemed relieved to speak to someone about it, even if it were just a five year old child. "The more responsibility that I took on, the more that he just faded," he paused, "one day I came and he wasn't there at all."

"My grandparents said that he wasn't able to leave the city," I said, "so do you think that he just died when the city no longer needed him?" I asked.

Shinigami shook his head, "I don't know."

"Do you think that you will die?" I don't know how I was so bold back then.

"I don't know, I hope not." When he saw the look on my face he elaborated. "I hope that I can become what my friends had become, and be with them again."

I nodded, it was good that he thought that way; it was strange to think that a death god would fear death. "So you are going to leave now," I said.

He nodded, "yes."

"You are going to look for your friends, and see if you can become part of what they are part of." I said.

He smiled, "that is the best way that anyone could have put it."

I nodded and stepped back, the Thompson Sisters dipped their heads to me, wide smiles stretching across their faces as I heard Beelzebub crackle into being.

When I looked at Shinigami, his face illuminated by the flashes of his weapons transforming and the streetlight that popped into being at that time, he had a similar wide smile. The years vanished.

I watched him launch himself over the wall as opposed to waiting for the gates to open, so I couldn't spend much time watching him leave. It was about time for me to be getting home then anyway.

Years passed after that night, and Death the Third ruled justly, she didn't have the symmetry problems that her father did, and the shift in power was unnoticeable.

He never came back to Death City, and there was no sign or hint of where he was. He had disappeared completely.

Maybe it's because he was reunited with his friends and happy.

I hope it is.


	3. Blame

**A/N: **Something a bit less dramatic now. Hope you enjoy the fluff. And I think that this is a phase that all chldren of Divorcees go through, but don't quote me on that.

**Disclamer: **I don't own Soul Eater.

Soul and Maka was sitting in the park, they were watching Kid do some skateboard tricks and Black Star attempt to match him at it.

So far he was failing miserably, but he kept on getting up.

The two of them were sitting underneath a tree, Maka with her ever-present book and Soul trying to guess exactly how hurt Black Star would have to get before he would admit that he at least needed basic practice on a skateboard before attempting any of those tricks whose names took an entire mouthful.

There was a soft thump as Maka suddenly closed her book.

"Soul?" she said, turning towards him.

"Yeah?" he turned away from his friend's latest catastrophe to look at her.

She chewed her lip for a moment, and then asked in a rush: "Do you think that it could have been different? If I were different?"

"What?"

"My parents," she said softly, "and their…split." She continued in a mumble.

It was about twenty seconds before Soul knew what she was talking about, when he realized what she meant he was thunderstruck.

Was Maka blaming herself for her parent's divorce? In the face of all the evidence that she knew so well? Even more urgent, was she having a moment of vulnerability?

Usually walking with a kind of ballsy confidence that people can only be born with, she only let people see her 'badass mask'. The know-it-all persona that declared "I know that I'm right and you better agree with me if you know what's good for your family jewels."

That mask was gone right now though, and the times when Maka had no armor on were the ones that he treasured most.

He would never admit it out loud, but he loved it when Maka opened up to him and reminded the world that she was indeed a human, with softness and emotions.

But this particular worry caught him completely off guard, and although these thoughts went through his head at lightning speed she still took his loose jaw and silence as a bad signal.

"You know what, never mind." She said quickly, "forget I asked, okay?" She immediately opened her book again.

Wait! He couldn't let this moment past.

"No," he said sharply.

"What?" her eyes narrowed slightly as she looked at him, she didn't close her book. "No to what?"

"To both, I won't forget it," he took a breath, "and I don't think that it would have been any different, no matter the circumstances."

She set her jaw, either she was thinking of being stubborn or she was chewing it over. "How do you know?"

"Well, maybe there is one scenario that would work," Soul amended, "but that is only in a universe where Spirit is completely different. It's all on him."

"I know that," Maka said, "but, maybe…I thought…." She trailed off. He recognized the way she pressed her lips together, and how she started blinking too often and too fast.

She was keeping tears back.

He rested a hand on her small shoulder; he spared a thought for how someone so tiny could seem so formidable simply because of the way she held herself.

"Listen to me," he said softly, "Spirit first left Stein for your mother as a weapon, and then he left your mother for other girlfriends. Somehow on the way they stopped being a tech-weapon pair. And then your father started acting as Shinigami's weapon after a few stints as Stien's weapon again."

He saw the look in her eyes, she didn't understand.

"It's all there," He said, "Spirit's history; it says that your father can't keep a commitment to anyone. The only reason that he hasn't left Shinigami-sama is because they haven't done much but council and because he wouldn't dare, no matter how he feels."

"It's my father's fault," she repeated, "I knew that, but I wanted…" she couldn't finish a thought today, could she?

"Let me tell you something," Soul insisted. "Spirit is an idiot, more than that he has no self respect; no weapon with any sense leaves their techs. Morons like him are rare though, look at Jackie, she was willing stay with Kim even after they ran." His eyes fell on their friends. "And Tsubaki, and Liz and Patty," he continued, "they put up with a lot, but it never crosses their minds to leave."

The named girls were respectively reviving Black Star, who seemed to have successfully knocked himself out, and fixing the parts in their hair to satisfy Kid.

"And you," Maka said, she was smiling now, her eyes were bright.

"Yeah, I'm a scythe, but I'm cool," he said with a grin. She laughed a little bit.

"I'm not leaving," he said, suddenly serious, keeping eye contact with Maka. He sensed the abrupt change in atmosphere, but he needed to make sure she knew this. "Even if I have to physically be somewhere else for whatever reason the higher-uppers can think of, for ever how long," he added. "I will come back."

Soul looked away, searching for something else to say that could possibly lighten the mood, or else continue to reassure his tech.

His thoughts were interrupted when Maka hugged him.


End file.
